Colored flame combustion device



Sept. 23, 1969 5. A. CAREY 3,468,615

COLORED FLAME COMBUSTION DEVICE Filed Nov- 3, 1957 INVENTOR. f/zark'' .17. (4222 7 ziawdzy m States nite 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Several devices burning with a colored flame are shown: A cigarette lighter burning a liquid fuel containing a halogen compound such as methyl chloride has a fine indium wire within the chimney above the lighter wick. A can of gellied alcohol fuel with a halogen compound has a ring of copper gauze on the fuel. A container of liquefied gas fuel such as butane with methyl chloride has a ventilated sleeve above a valved gas jet and a copper wire ring adjacent the path of the gas through the sleeve. A halogen-containing wax candle has a copper sleeve riding on the upper end of the candle. The flame of each of the devices is colored green or blue with a copper body adjacent the halogen-containing flame, purple with an indium body, and other colors with other metals.

It is well known that various elements react in combustion to produce a colored flame. Copper and chlorine, for example, when heated in each others presence in a flame impart a green color to the flame. This type of reaction has been used in fuels such as fireplace kindling and wax candles to color the flame attractively by mixing metal salts such as cupric chloride with the fuel. With such a fuel-salt mixture, however, the color of the flame is pale and is often diluted with the yellow hue of the fuel. In some instances, the added salt or like colorproducing compound inhibits combustion of the fuel. In the case of a candle, flame quenching deposits accumulate on the wick. Most of the salts cannot be held in solution with suitable liquid fuels.

Thus it is an object of the present invention to provide a portable combustion device such as a cigarette lighter, candle or heater which contains both a fuel and the elements for coloring its flame, which allows the fuel to burn normally, without chemical inhibition and which produces a flame of pure and saturated hue.

According to the invention a colored flame combustion device comprises a container of fuel having a halogen activator dispersed therethrough and having an adjacent combustion zone, and a body of halogen reactive metal supported on said container at said zone, said body being adapted to react with said halogen in the presence of the fuel flame to impart a distinctive color to the flame.

Fuel containers include not only liquid fuel tanks and solid fuel cans, but also the mass of a wax candle. Halogen activators include halogen compounds.

For the purpose of illustration typical embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of a cigarette lighter;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the combustion zone of the lighter in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevation, partly in section, of a solid fuel heating element;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the heater of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an elevation, partly in section, of a pressurized fuel lamp;

3,468,615 Patented Sept. 23, 1969 FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional elevation of the lamp of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an elevation in section of a candle and follower; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary elevation of another form of colored flame candle.

The cigarette lighter shown in FIG. 1 comprises an outer housing 1 with a cap 2, and an inner housing 3 packed with an absorbent filler 4. A wick 6 extends from the filler into a chimney 7 adjacent a flint 8 and a spark wheel 9. A loop of bare copper wire 11, No. 24 gauze for example, is supported on the chimney above the wick 6 so as to surround the base of the flame above the wick. The wire is spaced from the wick sufficiently to prevent interference with combustion of the fuel in the wick, but close enough to be heated to a temperature to react with volatilized halogen. The filler 4 is saturated with a flammable liquid hydrocarbon such as naphtha, butane or any other well known lower hydrocarbon lighter fluid in which a small amount of chloroform is dissolved. Typically the amount is less than one percent chloroform, 0.3 to 0.8 percent being satisfactory.

When the fuel-soaked wick is ignited it conducts fuel from the filler 4 to its exposed tip and begins the resulting combustion process which includes heating of the wick to volatilize and heat the halogenized fuel and convecting it upwardly through the chimney mixed with air drawn through openings 12 in the chimney below the wire 11. Visible flame may or may not appear in the chimney, but the heat of incipient combustion volatilizes the chloroform, possibly dissociating its chlorine, and simultaneously affects the copper wire, probably by changing it to a cupric of cuprous valence state, in which reaction with the chlorine in the presence of the volatilized fuel produces a coloration of the flame in the zone where combustion of the fuel produces visible light. The visible combustion zone is above the wick 6, and may be in or above the wire 11, or even spaced above the chimney 7. The wire 11 is therefore preferably spaced from the wick approximately A; to A1 of an inch so that it can be at the beginning or before the visible combustion zone. Whereas in conventional lighters the flame is pale yellow with traces of pale blue, in this lighter the usual yellowish flame is largely absent and a brillant distinctly green or blue flame extends above the copper wire. With a low, e.g., one percent solution of methyl chloride, the color is green. With a high, e.g. five percent to ten percent, solution of methyl chloride, the color is a brilliant blue.

While chloroform has been given as a suitable halogen compound, and whose combustion products have been found to be non-toxic at the fuel concentration mentioned, other organic halogen compounds, particularly the lower hydrocarbon-halide compounds such as methyl chloride and butyl chloride are equally, if not better, suited for use in lighters and other combustion devices according to the invention.

In FIGS.. 3 and 4 is shown a can of solid fuel well known under the trademark Sterno. The can 21 holds a gellied mixture 22 of alcohol which normally burns with a mixture of yellow and almost unnoticeable blue flame. However, in the gellied fuel of this invention is dispersed a halogen compound, for example, one percent of methyl chloride, and resting on the fuel is a collar 23 of 20 mesh copper screen, /2 inch in depth and of diameter to fit closely within the mouth 24 of the can. When the gellied fuel is lighted its halogen reacts with the heated copper screen to produce a pleasing green flame above the mouth of the can.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate an artificial candle supplied by a can 31 of compressed liquid fuel 32 such as butane, containing from about 0.4 percent to 10 percent methyl chloride depending on the desired saturation of color. At the top of the can is a valve 33 with a hand screw 34 for controlling flow of fuel through a tube 35. In lieu of pressurized fuel, the can may contain an alcohol such as methanol as the halogen compound solvent, in which case the fuel rises in the tube 35 partly by capillary action and partly by vaporization at the hotter upper end of the tube. Alternatively a wick may be used. Around the tube 35 is a metal sleeve or chimney 36 having ventilating openings 37 and an upper outlet 38. Secured in the opening is a ring 39 of copper wire located above the bent openings 37. Preferably the copper ring is between /8 inch and /2 inch above the orifice of the tube 35. When the halogenated butane or methanol fumes released through the tube are ignited a brilliant green flame appears above the sleeve opening.

FIG. 7 shows a paraflin wax candle body 41 supporting a candle follower 42 having a sleeve 43 of insulating material which rest on the upper edge of the candle body. The body of the candle contains a 0.5 percent dispersion of paradichlorobenzene. The insulating sleeve is attached to an insulative mantle 44 which carries a copper collar with ventilating holes 47. The mantle is designed such that the wick 48, which conducts the liquid candle material to the combustion zone at and above it, is located at least inch below the upper opening 49 of the collar 46. When the wick 48 is ignited it draws air through the openings 47 with some turbulence and mixing and heats the copper collar 45 to a temperature at which it reacts with the active halogen of the volatilized fuel from the wick. A bright green to bright blue flame then appears above the copper collar.

FIG. 8 illustrates an alcohol fueled candle comprising a container 3 like that used in the lighter of FIG. 1, and enclosing a reservoir of methyl alcohol and 5 percent to 10 percent of methyl chloride. A wick 6 extending from the reservoir above the container is closely surrounded by a sleeve 11' of copper mesh gauze. When the wick is ignited, the combustion zone of the flame envelops the wick and gauze and is distinctly green in color.

While specific fuels with halogen activators and metal bodies have been described for producing the described colored flames with reference to the figures, others may be used, as follows. Chloroform and paradichlorobenzene may be dispersed at 0.3 to 0.8 percent in any of the lower hydrocarbons including the lower alcohols, such as methanol and ethanol, and the lower alkanes, such as butane. Care should be taken to limit the proportion of halogen activator compound to fuel to avoid formation of toxic combustion by-products such as phosgene at suitable flame temperatures of about 400 C. Methyl chloride should be not over about 10 percent by volume of the fuel, and chloroform should not be over about 0.5 percent. On the other hand, concentrations of less than 0.2 to 0.3 percent reduce the purity and saturation of the flame color. Depending on the concentration the flame color may range from green to blue with copper as the metal body; with barium the color is green. Indium reacts with halogen-activated fuel to produce a rich purple flame. The indium may be present in a 99 percent indium-gallium alloy plated on tin wire or other supporting body.

While certain desirable embodiments of the invention have herein been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that these are mainly by way of example, and

the invention is broadly inclusive of any and all modifications falling within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A colored flame illuminating device comprising a container of fuel having a halogen activator dispersed therethrough and having an adjacent combustion zone, and a body of halogen reactive metal supported on said container at said zone, said body being adapted to react with said halogen in the presence of the fuel flame to impart a distinctive color to the flame.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein the reaction product of said halogen and metal is colored other than yellow.

3. A device according to claim 1 wherein said container comprises a fluid tank attached to means for supporting said metal body.

4. A device according to claim 1 wherein said container comprises the mass of a wax candle and is characterized by a follower supported on said mass and supporting said metal body.

5. A device according to claim 1 characterized by means conducting said fuel from said container to said combustion zone, said metal body being disposed beyond said conducting means.

6. A device according to claim 5 wherein said container, conducting means and metal body comprise an integral, manually portable unit.

7. A device according to claim 5 characterized by a chimney between said conducting means and combustion zone, said metal body being mounted on said chimney, and said chimney drawing combustion gases past said metal body.

8. A device according to claim 7 wherein said chimney comprises a candle follower.

9. A device according to claim 8 wherein said chimney is ventilated below said metal body.

10. A device according to claim 1 wherein the fuel in said container comprises an approximately three-tenths percent to ten percent solution by volume of a lower hydrocarbon halide compound in a lower hydrocarbon fuel-solvent.

11. A fuel for use in an illuminating device having a halogen reactive metal body at its combustion zone, said fuel comprising a solution of a lower hydrocarbon fuelsolvent and a lower hydrocarbon-halide compound present in an amount greater than incidental impurity and in an amount effectively reactive with said metal when heated by combustion of said fuel to impart a distinctive color to the fuel flame.

12. A fuel according to claim 11 wherein said halide compound is approximately three-tenths percent to ten percent of said fuel by volume.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 427,187 5/1890 Ramsperger 431-126 984,029 2/1911 Scheuble 431126 2,017,951 10/1935 Dasher 43 1126 X CHARLES J. MYHRE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 446, 7.5 

